Good news for fans of Jenna Coleman, who has played companion to the Doctor on the last season and a half of "Doctor Who": She's not going anywhere. At least for now.

Beginning in the fall, rumors began cropping up online that Coleman was about to leave her role as Clara Oswald, the schoolteacher-turned-space-time-traveler. Coleman herself did nothing to dispel those rumors when she told Radio Times in September that she would be in the Christmas episode, but wouldn't confirm any involvement in the series after that.

When the title of the Christmas episode was announced, "Last Christmas," it seemed that this might indeed be the end of the road for Coleman.

And even for viewers of the special, which aired on Christmas Day, it seemed as if this was Coleman's final adventure with the Doctor. Right up until the final moments of the episode. And then it was revealed that, despite rumors of her departure, Coleman would continue to travel with the Doctor for a little while longer.

Coleman told the BBC: "I get a whole other series of stories with the Doctor and I couldn't walk away with the story being unresolved."

Coleman joined the series in 2012, replacing the Ponds (Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill), who had been with the Doctor since 2010. She began with Matt Smith and continues with Peter Capaldi.

Head writer Steven Moffat has been determining the course of "Doctor Who" since 2010, when show runner Russell Davies handed him the keys to the TARDIS and Matt Smith became the 11th Doctor, a dark and madcap traveler in time and space.

He has written five Christmas episodes for the Doctor, four...

(Robert Lloyd)

It looks as if the rumors might have just been one big misdirect to toy with fans leading up to the Christmas special. Maybe one day, "Doctor Who" fans will tire of having their emotions played with this way. But that doesn't appear to be happening any time soon.

Who doesn't want to watch a "Doctor Who" with the expectation that you could burst into tears at any moment?